José Morella

José Morella holds a degree in literature theory and comparative literature. He lives in Barcelona. He entered his novel Asuntos propios for the Premio Herralde, and although it did not win, the judging panel gave such a positive assessment of the work that it was published by Anagrama. His most recent novel, Como caminos en la niebla, explores the wild and rebellious life of the psychiatrist, anarchist and hippie avant la lettre, Otto Gros.

Poetry

Novel

The riotous, tragic life of the founding grandfather of counterculture.

Following a breakup, Llerandi decides to realise his dream of directing a movie about a unique and unrepeatable historical figure: Otto Gross, psychiatrist, unruly disciple of Sigmund Freud, psychoanalyst, anarchist, utopian, bohemian, defender of sexual liberation and matriarchy. For research, Llerandi visits the cities where his protagonist lived and explores the intense, over-the-top life of a man who, in the eyes of the society of his time, was an untamed madman who deserved to be confined to a psychiatric facility. But Gross was a visionary, and found an opportunity to put his libertarian, utopian ideas into practice in Mt. Verità, Switzerland, a sort of naturist community/spa that would be frequented by progressives and visionaries, eccentric physicians, artists and bohemians.

Otto Gross’s endless struggle against the society of his time is personified in the conflict with his father, Hans Gross, a pioneering forensic scientist with a pathologically strict personality. His father manages to have Otto put away in a mental hospital for years. This gives rise to a public campaign for his release, supported by intellectuals from all over Europe, such as Franz Kafka, Carl Jung, Blaise Cendrars and Herman Hesse, heirs of the influence of a man who was several decades ahead of his time.

“A brilliant novel about the figure of the Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Gross.”Ernesto Ayala-Dip

"Well structured, well narrated, the novel takes us into the life of Otto Gross, a real character whose real life is so unusual, it seems invented. An intelligent read for those seeking something more in a book." Alicia Giménez-Bartlett